Fog
by cybermage303
Summary: Within the dense fog of the lakeside, Ash and Nitro engage in a bit of conversation. There must be something in the air...


Untitled AshxNitro Fanfiction

By cybermage303

Galerians series belongs to Chinfa Kang/Sho-u Tajima/Polygon Magic

Looking across a quiet lake were two individuals, their arms resting over the guard railing that separated them from the water. The mist was heavy but not thick enough to obscure the rippling of the tide. They had stood there just watching the waves come and go in a slow, gentle pace for quite a while now. No one had disturbed them or made them want to cut their visit to the lake side short, the place was incredibly lonely. Only the sounds of the occasional splashing against the concrete shore were present.

One of the admirers of the lake, a young woman, breathed in the aquatic mist; she savored the fleeting experience before looking back down into the dark water. Around perhaps 20 or so years of age, she wore a black button-up coat with matching pants, gloves and boots. A scarf was loosely wrapped around her slender neck, more to ward against the cold nip of the rainy fall season than to keep her from freezing. Cold never truly got to her anyhow, such bodily reactions like temperature change didn't concern her. Her ponytail hung downward over her face, black as night locks covering the left half of her pale face. She was expressionless, as she always was, and seemingly lost in thought or maybe she was not entertaining some fantasy in her mind at all.

"Are you alright?" the second person speaks, a young man to the left of her.

"Yes...I'm fine." she doesn't look back at him, eyes still pointed to the lake but she does tilt her head in his direction in response, her ponytail following suit.

"We've been standing here looking at the water for a while and I haven't heard a word from you in quite some time...you want to leave?" the silver-haired man suggests, his posture straightens up and his gaze is toward his companion.

"What? No...I don't mind this place. I just don't really have a lot to say. Does that bother you, Ash?" this time her head turns completely to him, the woman's obsidian eyes in full view.

"No. Of course not." Ash answers her. He returns to his somewhat hunched over position and glances back to the lake. Around the same age as her, he wore a light gray jacket with his pants in a slightly darker shade of gray, with a matching shirt underneath it. His shoes, however, were completely black. If it was not for his dully-lit amber eyes, Ash would easily vanish into the fog surrounding them. Compared to Nitro, whose completely black attire made the lady like a moving shadow.

"I do enjoy this..." Ash begins "It's nice to think about something other than the usual. Although it feels as if I'm being, well, lazy." Nitro begins to laugh a little at his words.

"I suppose this is an odd feeling." She laughs again but this time to herself. "Now that's funny."

Ash looks to her with an inquisitive look, while making a small 'hm' sound within his silver lips. Sudden giggling was her way of conveying amusing towards something, Nitro thought a lot of things in this world were amusing.

"What's so funny?" he questions.

"I said that this was an odd feeling. I don't even _feel_." she wrapped her thin, gloved fingers together and straightened herself to look toward the gray sky. Emotions like enjoyment were completely foreign to her, to another person they came with zero effort at all but Nitro seemed to not possess the spirit or enthusiasm to conjure such a thing. The only thing she could "feel" with her entire being was a mix of things resembling despair, hatred, pain, and maybe even longing. "Wonder what this is called then?"

Ash attempts to answer his friend's indirect question, despite the girl being a rather hard person to understand; even for someone as intelligent as him. "Then that is called apathy, a total state of indifference. It is probably why you find everything so boring." She closes her eyes and ponders his words. One thing was certain, she was eternally bored; nothing had surprised nor interested her. Everything she experienced was painfully dull and filled her with contempt and disgust. People, life, the world itself; all of existence could burn into ashes and it wouldn't phase Nitro the slightest. Never truly feeling happiness or sorrow was bewildering yet it was familiar. Nothing was what she felt inside and it was reflective of what the world truly was at the end, just a bunch of sentient beings deluding themselves that they are more than what they actually are: nothing.

"It's all so laughable, how pitiful reality is. How did the world even survive for so long with such grievances living in it? What. A. Joke." She crosses her arms, not in anger but in dissatisfaction. Ash had seen her in this position more times than he could even count, she had always hated. It might have been the core of the boredom she always talked about.

"The answer evades me, my calculations suggest that humanity should have destroyed themselves years ago. No doubt due to their selfish cares and desires." he says. Ash was of similar mentality but one key difference between Nitro and him was that he felt that the sorry state of the world could still be changed with effort. Nitro had long went past worthless feelings of hope, unnecessary delusions of a better life were wastes of her time. Despair was comforting because it was the truth. Did he feel she was unhappy? Not sure. She was incredibly sarcastic and grimly sardonic, often her smile was not of the positive sort; it was of the more mocking sort. Malicious even, death itself was many a source of humor. "Perhaps in time, the world we live in will be a better place." he looks to her. "Maybe one worth caring about."

"Now that would be nice, wouldn't it?" Nitro smiles, her silver lips widen a bit "I might even be a little less...bored." Moments pass with both Ash and Nitro still standing in front of the lake, still admiring it's natural tranquility. Time is frozen as their cares and problems wash away into the waters and are expelled through the mist. They had never wanted this time together to end, life itself was too much of a pain to think about again. Ash felt that, since they were alone, it was appropriate to fulfill his curiosity and ask her a question.

"Nitro?"

"Hmm?" she acknowledged, face turned to him with her hair following suit as it always does.

"How do you feel about us?" Her right eyebrow raises to his query.

"Us? Do you mean Spider, Parano, and you?" Ash nods in confirmation. Spider and Parano, a young and mild-mannered child who enjoys the company of spiders and an arrogant, temperamental mechanical expert who frequently creates bizarre robots; they were Ash and Nitro's companions although Parano never did get along with any of the other three.

"Hmm...well, Spider is a good person but being a good person in a world like this won't get you very far. As for Parano, he's an idiot but I'm sure you'd know more about that than I would, Ash." The two older males of the group never did see eye-to-eye, Parano found Ash's demeanor distasteful somehow and constantly was hostile to the silver-haired man. In turn, Ash simply shrugged off his aggressions and insults as minor annoyances which only made him more angry.

"I guess that leaves you then..." Nitro begins to ponder what she would say next, face looking downward to her feet. "You're...I don't know...different from the rest..." She had to admit to herself, his question caught her off-guard. Nitro thought she had a general opinion of Ash but when she was asked to actually describe it, the apathetic girl took a few seconds to find the words. "A lot of the things I see bore me, I really don't give a damn about anything really. But you, Ash...you're, well..._not_ boring." She raises a gloved hand out to him, a gesture to better convey what she is saying.

"This makes no sense, I know. I don't really get it either. I wouldn't call it excitement, that's just impossible for me." The word she was going to use in place of "excitement", "happiness", sent a revolting chill down her spine. Her hand then slips from the misty air between him and her and Nitro absently places a single finger to her temple.

"I see." Ash says. "I apologize if my question had made you uncomfortable, Nitro. If it helps in anyway, I do prefer your company over Spider and Parano's." He chuckles slightly. "Conversing with you is grimly enlightening."

"I aim to depress." Nitro says smiling somewhat with Ash smirking a little in return.

More minutes pass. It seemed like ages the two adults stood within the murkiness of the lake side, silence befell them once more. Nitro, due to being captivated by the water, had not noticed a sudden warmth in her left hand. Leering a bit, she finds a slightly larger hand resting atop hers. The right hand of Ash to be more precise and he did too, seemed to not notice that their digits were making contact. She just stood there watching the two hands meet, the feeling of another one's body temperature was oddly interesting. It felt like the sparkling of newly born embers. Ash's peripheral field detects her eyes on the railing between the two and he glances.

"Oh." Ash notices his hand has found it's way atop hers, resting comfortably. He attempts to move it away. "Sorry, I didn't notice." He looks to her and sees that Nitro is interested somewhat, eyes to his now hovering hand.

"..."

Her silence unnerves him a bit. Ash moves his hand away from the railing and to his side.

"I didn't say move it." She says.

Ash heeds her words and returns his palm atop her latex gloved hand, decorated by a pure silver ring with a Gothic skull design on it. It fit perfectly on the woman's middle finger and she wore a set of two, one on each hand.

"So...you enjoy this, Nitro?" Ash asks, even while knowing she wasn't known to feel pleasure.

"..."

"You didn't seem to object."

"I know." she says. The shine of the her deathly beautiful ring took her mind off the current situation. Not because it bothered her but because of a sudden uncertainty. "Your hand. It was warm and I found it...strange, in a way." For a second, she wanted to say it felt pleasurable. So very, very pleasurable. But that's impossible, _she's Nitro. _Only pain was marginally satisfying.

Out of nowhere, an utterly bizarre impulse arose of out her, it told her to interlock her arm with his. It sent cold chills that slithered underneath her epidermis. _"What to do?"_ she thought in her head. If she went through with such an action, there was a chance of him interpreting it into something most unfortunate. Awkwardness between the amber-eyed man and her was something she definitely did not want. But there was something within her core that made her regret _not_ heeding to this impulse. There must be something in the fog, there was no other explanation for such uncharacteristic urges to bloom forth from Nitro. Then, without a single hint, her frigid arm interlocks with Ash's while her right hand comes to take the left's spot on his hand.

Ash looks toward her sudden advancement with a surprised look on his face. There was no way to predict this, especially not from Nitro of all people. He could feel her fingernails attempt to dig through his jacket material as she firmly pressed her fingers tightly into him. The grip on his right hand was also more firm with added force behind it. Gazing at her with bright eyes, Nitro counters with light-less ones of her own. Ash noticed that at such a close proximity, her eyes were mysterious. It is said that eyes are the gateway to the soul but in Nitro's case, it was a steel-clad ebony fortress; protecting the forbidden knowledge of what was truly inside. He began to speculate what she thought of his own eyes, did she think they were determined? Wise? Or maybe full of despair, they had both suffered tremendously from past events. She knew all about his painful fragments of what was once present but Ash never did get a straight answer about Nitro's experiences. They weren't her thing and he didn't feel it was right to pry, the brunette tentatively kept many things to herself.

"This is _so_ stupid." Nitro says.

"And why is that?"

"It just is. Still, here I am, holding on to you like some love struck school girl. Disgusting..."

"Nitro, if you didn't want to do it then I doubt you'd stay this close to me for this long. Am I right?"

"Maybe." She diverts her face away from his, from the look of it could be embarrassment of some kind. Or perhaps shame. Nitro sighs. "What do _you_ think Ash?" Her tone is slightly mocking, as it almost always was but it didn't seem to have a true target.

"What, me? I don't mind this at all. If you desire to hold on to me then do so." his tone is neutral, atypical of him.

"Hehehe..." Nitro giggles. "We must look idiotic. If I could see us right now I'd probably vomit my guts out, ah..." She shakes her head and smiles at the thought of Parano and Spider looking at them like this. Parano would make some snide remark, which Nitro would easily top with her own, and Spider will most likely be without comment. The last thing he'd want to do was try to offend anybody, that was certain.

"What's so wrong with two people holding hands?" Ash questions.

"Nothing really, I guess...but that's why it's so funny." She laughs sardonically. "I'm not an expert on hand-holding, Ash. You should know that."

Ash laughs slightly to himself, he honestly didn't know what actions to take with her. One part of him thought this was one of her mind-games while the other pondered if this was just something she wanted to do. An even greater question was how she felt about the whole thing.

"Do you...hate this?" he asks, it seemed to be a question that Nitro could answer with ease. She was the most hateful person on the planet, after all.

"I don't know. It isn't painful, nor does it fill me with despair." She was just as perplexed as he was. "But even with all these clothes covering my body, I didn't truly feel warm until your hand was to mine. For some reason, I wanted more of this."

"Do you enjoy it?"

" 'Enjoy' is a word I'm not too familiar with, y'know? There are not too many things I enjoy that aren't at another person's expense." The lady leans in more to Ash's side. "I don't think I have a word for it yet."

"That's fine, somethings can't be simply defined by words." Ash says.

"Oh, really? Is that true?"

"I like to think so. Just because there is no current definition for something, does not mean it doesn't exist." His words were comforting in a way, she was more liberated if only slightly. She giggles again. Realizing that not a single soul other than Ash can see her, Nitro conjures a plot within her head. A crafty and naturally manipulative woman, she did her fair share of thinking and knew what made people tick. She devised an experiment of sorts, the subjects were Ash and her. It was reckless somewhat and hasty too, totally unlike her. But the last impulse she reacted upon yielded results that weren't _too_ painful. And hey, this type of alone time was far and between. _"What the hell."_ she thought.

"Ash..." he turns to face her. "...can I ask you something?"

"Go ahead." he replies and a grin forms on Nitro's visage, her hand coming close to her mouth.

"Can I...meet my lips with yours? May I taste you?" Her tone is suggestive in a way.

"...I...what?" Ash stammers, if her mission was to make him feel uncomfortable then she has already succeeded.

"You heard me." She is resolute in her request, Nitro noticed the state she had put the man in.

"...Is that what you what?" Ash asks and she nods. Within his chest, his heart rate increased a small amount and he noticed the sudden coldness of his skin. His body was reacting to both her question and the thoughts of what was to come. The option to say no was available but he didn't really want to, not because she might be disappointed but because he bore no desire in him to actually object to such a question. He composes himself and readies for her next move. "Then fine. Go ahead."

Touching both sides of his arms with her hands, Nitro closes in to his face and adjusts herself so their noses won't bump into each other. She closes her eyes and presses her silver lips against his own, a sensation of warmth burns though out her entire body. The taste of uranium was bitterly sweet, she realized one of the reasons he enjoyed it so much. It burnt her tongue but the pain itself was invigorating. Ash is unresponsive, no doubt inexperienced in this type of thing. To aid him, Nitro deepens the kiss, luring him to be more active and she is successful. He counters, lips dancing with her's in a passionate embrace; neither side wanting to back down. Nitro moans in pleasure, it felt painful but in a good way. It was like the tundra deep within her was slowly being melted away by such a radiant and pure flame; it's scarlet waves consuming all until everything was incinerated. She grips his arms harder and pushes her body until they are making complete contact with one another. Her left hand goes to hold his cheek while Ash's arms, previously wrapped around her back, had lowered themselves downward to her waist. _"Please don't stop, Ash..." _she thought to herself. _"Take away my boredom...make me forget all about the world."_

Her body was trembling slightly, the physical and mental pleasure she was feeling was overwhelming. She hoped he didn't notice but she felt almost like she was about to break. As if there was actually anything left of her to destroy. Ash breaks the kiss and ravages her neck, making her cry out in ecstasy, his moistened lips making contact with her cold skin. She giggles, clearly not hating what he was doing.

Ash was surprised in himself, how he was even able to allow Nitro to make the sounds that escaped her lips and how she was able to feel such a burst of enjoyment. She smelled of cinders, a faint reminder of her pyrokinetic abilities. It excited him, thinking of the beauty and grace she displayed as she danced with the flames; her lithe figure spinning in-place at a remarkable speed as the world around her bathed in fire; it's ugliness being wiped clean.

They lock lips once again with even more ferocity than before. Eyes opened, Ash and Nitro look into each other with burning desire. Their arms extend outward and their fingers interlock. With great initiative, Nitro leaned up against Ash, pushing him slightly over the guard railing. There was a chance of him falling into the water below but she had no intentions of ever letting him go. At this moment, he was her's and she was his. Index finger placed tauntingly below his chin, she whispers to him. "I'll tear you _apart..._"

"If only I can do the same to you." Ash says back, desire affecting his normally calm tone of voice.

"Heh...by all means. Destroy me, Ash." He smiles at her in that devilish grin she so very much liked to see, she couldn't help but smile her own wicked grin in return. This was not a physical desire she was experiencing, no, it could never be so simplistic. Dead fibers of her once whole heart where suddenly responding, Nitro's body tingled all over. The shards of her supposed soul weren't reforming, never again would she have this so called "empathy.". What was happening couldn't be described. She couldn't find the words and she really didn't want to at the moment. The only thing she held close to the dead mass of empty space where her heart used to remain was this blistering desire to keep feeling more. More of this...whatever it was. Perhaps she was remembering? Could it be that she was reveling in the faint memories of affection for another? That is, of course, if affection was actually apart of her at that time; too much unbridled hatred and misery had annihilated her being. It mattered not, she was utterly broken and she wanted to feel like she was a whole person; even if for a moment.

The two then tear off each other, both breathless and starting to sweat a noticeable amount. Ash and Nitro would've love to continue this simulation of human affection but the dull, painful throbbing in their heads warned of a potential short circuit if things continued. Holding onto his jacket collar, the female psychic begins to speak.

"This was _so_ worth my time."

"Unusual experience, but one worth value." Ash responds, examining her hair in it's ruffled state; ponytail nearly undone in the skirmish. She catches wind and starts idly fixing her hair.

"Hehe...how delightfully strange, for me to be divined by something so needless." She says. "Tell me Ash, what do you make of this?"

"...Don't know. My data felt like it was completely disorganized whilst billions of lines of code flowed through my systems." Ash's techno talk again, she understood it but found it boring to listen to. It wasn't like he needed to be so thorough.

"So you enjoyed it, right?" Her right hand is to her hip, looking a tad impatient.

"Yes, I'd would say so." Ash nods slightly in agreement.

"Well, that's good. The last thing I want to be is a terrible kisser."

Nitro walks up to the railing again and puts two hands down on them, looking into the tide of the lake that was starting to pick up. The scent of rain was noticeable and, holding out her palm in front of her, droplets of clear liquid begin to flare up her touch senses. A tiny smile forms on the woman's face, rain was soothing to her in a way. There wasn't much more pleasing than standing by a window on a dreary afternoon, listening to a heavy downpour, and watching as the heavens shed tears upon the soil and earth. And then the scent. It sent chills throughout her body, akin to the aroma of embers and charred flesh. As infected as the planet was, it was oddly beautiful in it's dampened state. When the water had touched her bare skin, she felt at peace; alone with only the rain and her. She remembered standing within this dead, wooded section not too far off from the refinery and just letting the clouds soak her. There was this sweet sting with each droplet, the tiny traces of toxic radiation reminded her of him; of Ash. Even while not in his presence, the Galerian had still felt him around her. In the air, in the rain, within the dirt, he was never not by her side.

"It's starting to rain..." Nitro says. "We can stay just a few more minutes, right?"

"No problem. A few more minutes wouldn't hurt." Ash's sense of time informed him that there was no need for them at the moment. Besides, he enjoyed spending time with the enigmatic woman. She was full of surprises.

"Well, that's good then." She removes her black gloves and lets the rain begin to wet her skin. Memories of her rainy day excursions out of the base flooded her mind. This was that feeling again, a feeling that wasn't painful. She wanted more of it. What was even sweeter was that he was beside her, the two of them completely alone with zero interference.

"It's so beautiful..." Nitro couldn't keep her eyes off the rain hitting her silver fingertips.

"Yes, it is..." Ash nods in agreement, nature was as much an admiration of his as it was her's. It was like even flowed and ebbed on it's on course, with no need for overseeing. Unlike back home, where Ash was needed to keep all the machinery running safe and efficiently.

"Shame it's not real." Nitro's smile is still strong.

"It rains in the real world, y'know?"

"Of course it does, Ash. But the real world will never be as nice as this is. Even though all of this really is just a fantasy."

She clasps her hands together and stands quietly underneath the rain, which was increasing in volume. Ash's silver mane was starting to feel the effects of the weather, it wasn't much of a bother either way. His gaze was fixated on Nitro. His natural desire for knowledge compelled him to keep observing. After what seemed like a century, the fire dancer speaks.

"I think we should go."

"You sure?"

"Yeah...I think I had enough fun. Let's go."

"As you wish. End virtual reality simulation."

With the end of his sentence, the foggy lakeside begins to transform into a series of binary code and the program begins to shut down. After the termination sequence had end, the two bodies stand in the same positions they were in at the lake. The only exception was that their clothes had returned to what their avatars had usually worn: Ash in his silver armor and Nitro in her black latex. Only the endless, silent, ivory void surrounded them now.

"You craft beautiful worlds, Nitro. If I hadn't known it was an illusion, I would've assumed I was in real world. They feel so genuine."

"Thank you. I do a lot of thinking when crafting dreams. Hehe, if only the dream world could be the real world. If that was so simple, I guess we wouldn't be in the middle of a war right now." Nitro's hand reaches up to her lips again.

"Once it's over, we'll have all the time to make the world of our dreams. You'll be able to actually live out your fantasies in real life, not in the confines of a program."

"Oh-ho, is that right?" Nitro tilts her head to the side in slightly playfully way, her ponytail swaying a tad. "But I think this is good enough til then..." Nitro takes two steps forward to Ash and grabs his hand.

"Hm?" Ash feels her slender fingers wrap around him.

"Thanks."

"For what?"

"For not boring me." Her face is towards him and she smiles. She turns and begins to walk away, probably to another realm in cyberspace or maybe to the real world, he didn't ask but he didn't have too. They were never far from each other and it wasn't like there was a whole lot of places to explore in the world, real or not.

"Nitro..." Ash says, making her halt in her walk. "...did you enjoy it?"

She turns to him and the most serene expression had adorned the usually vacant-faced brunette.

"I think I did." With that, Nitro blanks out of his vision. The leader of the Last Galerians couldn't help but smile in response. Ash hoped she was able to feel what he assumed she longed to experience for so long.

_ "Nitro...I hope that you are happy." _

_The End_


End file.
